THE REPORT CARD
by Andrew Clements
A fifth-grade girl genius, who has been fooling her parents and teachers by pretending to be a mediocre student, decides to protest the school culture of tests and testing. Genius Nora Rowley is disturbed because her best friend Stephen, who she thinks is the smartest, kindest boy in school, suddenly believes he’s dumb just because he didn’t score well on an academic assessment test. Upset by Stephen’s reaction and the validity of testing in general, Nora tries getting D’s on her report card, then later, with Stephen’s help, concocts a rebellion among students in which they all flunk their next exam. A polemic for kids, Clements takes on the multifaceted subject of the relationship between a number on a test, student self-esteem, and real-life smarts. Although the ideas presented are provocative, germane, and genuinely worthy, the scenario is highly unlikely and the reader can hear the author’s voice speaking through the characters a bit too plainly. (Fiction. 8-12)